Bumper Friday track action seen by record crowds at Albert Park

The 125,548 spectators saw plenty of racing action headlined by Supercars, whose race may have been cut short to 12 laps (from 19) by two Safety Cars, but that did not mean that there was plenty of action to see.

Chevrolet Camaros dominated the race, which was won by Cameron Hill. The Canberrian, 28, not only took his first Supercars win, he led a 1-2 finish for Matt Stone, the second-generation Supercars team owner and Hall of Fame member, Jimmy Stone.

Nick Percat, who won at Albert Park a year ago, took second place in the second MSR car, ahead of defending Champion Will Brown (who started from fifth on the grid) and his Triple 8 teammate, Broc Feeney. Andre Heimgartner took fifth place for Brad Jones Racing ahead of the first of the Ford Mustangs, Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters, who saw his championship points lead over Brown cut to 31.

It was an astonishing turnaround for the Stone team, which was last in the Supercars Teams’ points following the opening round of the championship in Sydney last month, and which now sits eighth (out of 13 teams).

In F2™, Italian Gabriele Mini (Prema Racing) was fastest ahead of Victor Martins.

The F3™ Qualifying session was dominated by the Trident duo Rafael Camara and Noah Stromsted, with Theophine Nael (Van Amersfoort Racing) in third place.

Aussie James Wharton had a tough day and will start the weekend’s races from 22nd on the grid.

The final race of the day was Race 2 for the Porsche Carrera Cup and when Frenchman Alessandro Ghiretti was bumped wide at the first corner Harri Jones looked to be heading to a second win.

But after the Safety Car stacked up the field, Jones ran wide at the first corner, dropping to seventh place. Jackson Walls took the lead from Bayley Hall and when another Safety Car appeared, that is how they finished, ahead of Marcus Flack. In the ProAm class, Rodney Jane took advantage of Sam Shahin getting caught in a melee to win.